Over the years there’s been much debate surrounding the concern for women receiving inequitable pay, relative to the same work men do. This continues to be an issue even in 2010! As a matter of fact, did you know that there’s an Equity Pay Day this year?

But it’s not just special interest groups who express the concern for women’s apparent lack of parity in their paychecks. President Obama signed legislation early in his presidency to ensure equal pay for women.

So is the President himself admitting that a woman can do the exact same work, for the exact same amount of time, with the exact same qualifications and experience as her male counterpart and get a smaller paycheck? Is that happening in the United States right now?

While some argue that women remain victims of unequal pay in the work place, others disagree about how the numbers are presented. Some argue it’s not discrimination at all.  John Stossel offers another perspective.

Stossel makes reference to a piece in the New York Times by Joanne Lipman, the paper’s first female deputy managing editor. Lipman makes the following statement in her discussion of equal pay for women:

“In my time as an editor, many, many men have come through my door asking for a raise or demanding a promotion. Guess how many women have ever asked me for a promotion? I’ll tell you. Exactly … zero.”

The claim is that women earn 77 cents on the dollar compared to men. This number is the “evidence” that women are discriminated against in the workplace all over the country. What’s misleading though is what is not considered in coming up with that number.

John Stossel offers this insight:

“In fact, women earning less than men is not proof of sexist discrimination. It is merely evidence that men tend to be career-obsessed.”

We all know women who are career-obsessed too. However, by and large women view work in the context of family, with family either taking priority or sharing the time. One former feminist realized that if it were true, that women were paid less than men were paid for the same work, then any business hiring women would stand to make more of a profit. But that’s not actually what’s going on.

Dr.Warren Farrell, instead, came to a very different conclusion once he did his research. There’s another dynamic that the numbers fail to illuminate — one that’s critical to understand the numbers and the larger issue:

“He found that men get paid more only because many of us are career obsessed — more willing to take unpleasant jobs and work odd hours.”

What research supports that claim?

A Rochester Institute of Technology survey of small business owners found:

1. Money was the primary motivator for just 29 percent of the women, compared to 76 percent of the men.

2. Women had other priorities: 85 percent said that “career flexibility” is very important, compared to 51 percent of men.

3. “Family friendly policies” were important for 65 percent of women, compared to 29 percent of men.

Women’s balanced priorities have lots of positive effects on the family, on their health and, inevitably, even in the workplace. So perhaps men are the ones who can learn a little bit from women!

——

(Original photo by Jo Jakeman, used under Creative Commons license.)